Hizbullah on Monday hailed the election of the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi as president of Egypt as "historic," and said it hoped the country would regain its leadership role in the Arab world.

"Hizbullah congratulates the great Egyptian people for this historic election," the party said, adding that it hoped Morsi would enable Egypt "to regain its leadership role in the Muslim-Arab world and to define the future of the region."

Jordan's King Abdullah II on Monday congratulated Mohammed Mursi "for winning the people's trust" following his victory in Egypt's presidential election, a palace statement said.

"We congratulate you for winning the people's trust. We wish Egypt all progress and prosperity," the king told Mursi, saying Amman is "keen to enhance relations" with Cairo.

Egypt's Islamist president-elect, Mohammed Mursi, has pledged to strengthen ties with Iran to build a "strategic balance in the region," according to an interview excerpt given by Iran's Fars news agency on Monday.

"Part of my agenda is the development of ties between Iran and Egypt that will create a strategic balance in the region," Mursi, who comes from Egypt's long-repressed Muslim Brotherhood, was quoted as saying.

Israeli media expressed almost unanimous concern on Monday about the victory of Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Mursi in Egypt's presidential election, warning of a difficult new reality.

"Darkness in Egypt," read the headline of the top-selling Yediot Aharonot newspaper, with commentator Smadar Peri writing inside the newspaper that Mursi's victory was a dangerous development for Israel.

Iran on Sunday welcomed the presidential election win in Egypt by the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi, but made no mention of possibly resuming diplomatic ties cut more than three decades ago.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran congratulates the victory of the Egyptian people in this election and the presidency of Dr Mohamed Morsi, and pays homage to the country's martyrs," said a foreign ministry statement carried by state media.

The West welcomed on Sunday the election of the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi as Egypt's first president following the ouster of Hosni Mubarak.

The United States congratulated Morsi on his election and urged his government to fulfill its role as a "pillar of regional peace."

Israel's prime minister said his country respects the democratic election of Islamist Mohamed Morsi as Egypt's president on Sunday and wants to cooperate with the new government in Cairo.

Arab governments and leaders welcomed on Sunday the election of the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi as Egypt's first president following the ouster of Hosni Mubarak.

But in Israel, which has a 1979 peace treaty with Egypt, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's spokesman, Mark Regev, said his office was "not saying anything at this stage."

A leader of the ruling Hamas said Saturday the militant group had agreed to try anew an Egypt-brokered ceasefire with Israel, after six days of bloodshed in and around the Gaza Strip.

Hamas and "the Palestinian resistance factions will respect the truce as long as the (forces) of the occupation do the same and that's what we told our Egyptian brothers who demanded that we cease fire," Ayman Taha told Agence France Presse.

Tensions soared in Egypt on Saturday a day before the result of a divisive presidential election and as the Muslim Brotherhood sparred with the ruling generals over what it sees as a military power grab.

The electoral commission overseeing the divisive contest between Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Mursi and former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq said it will announce the official winner on Sunday.